Review: Bring Me Back – Karen Booth

Music critic Claire Abby is a single mom dreading her daughter’s departure for college and worried that turning forty will leave her career running on fumes. She’s floored when she lands a Rolling Stone cover story on 80s British rock legend Christopher Penman. She spent her teenage years fantasizing he was her boyfriend.

In person, Christopher is everything Claire feared he’d be—charming, witty and unwilling to address the rumors he’s dodged for a decade. Still, she contains her adolescent fantasies and manages to earn his trust, unearthing the truth and the devastating secret behind it. His blockbuster story is her first priority when she returns home, a nearly impossible task when Christopher starts calling and flirting. She knows she should maintain a professional distance. She knows she should focus on the story. She knows it would be best to simply walk away. But how can she say “no” to the man she could never forget?

Series:
Release Date:  January 20, 2013
Publisher:  Turquoise Morning Press
Source:  Author’s Angels
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

Claire Abby was a single mom who has finally gotten her big break with Rolling Stone magazine.  She was getting a feature interview with none other than Christopher Penman, guitarist for her favorite British rock band Banks Forest.  Claire was stuck between jumping up and down as the teenage girl she was getting to meet her crush or celebrating that this could be just what she needs to ensure she can send her teenage daughter to college.  When she meets Chris, she finds he’s not at all what she had imagined in her teenage mind or what she had read in the scandal sheets.  He’s flirty, fun and has a way of making her forget about everything except how she feels when she’s with him.  But when reality, in the form of Chris’ ex-wife, Claire’s ex-boyfriend and the tabloids, enters their relationship will they be able to stick together as a team or will they walk away?

Chris and Claire were incredible complex people.  The each had their own emotional issues that made getting involved with one another complicated.  But when it came down to it, they were best when they were together.  They balanced each other out.  Chris was not only Claire’s lover, but her best friend.  She could open up to him about things and know he wouldn’t judge her the way her father or sister would.  For Chris, Claire (for lack of a better term) rooted him.  She gave him a sense of family and of worth, something he’d desperately been missing with his ex-wife.  Together they were a strong unit that could face anything together.

There were times when they let their insecurities from the past creep into their relationship.  But it wasn’t only their insecurities that did a number on them.  In the end, they had to figure out what was better, living a life of agony without each other or fighting to get past this hurdle and be together.

There was something about this book that I just loved.  I’m not sure if it was the fact that the Claire and Chris were my age or if it was because Claire was able to live out every teenage girls dream and catch her rock star prince.  Whatever it was, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read that had me from start to finish.

Cocktail Recipe

Black Sabbath

1 part Jack Daniels
1 part Rum
1 part Jagermeister

Mix together and serve in a martini glass